Hi Melinda:

I noticed from your past posts that you thought bipolar disorder might be to blame for some of your son's behavior. Did you ever seek a diagnosis? Have you noticed any change with the mood swings?

I'm not certain whether lying is a symptom of bipolar, but I do know that kids your son's age do often go through lying phases. It sounds like your son's 'phase' maybe more serious than the average kid, though... If you think that bipolar might be the problem, I'd suggest checking out this article: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/774-2.html

And here's another good one... Is It ADHD or Bipolar Disorder? Decoding the Symptoms: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/2511.html

This one has some good ideas for discouraging the lies: http://www.additudemag.com/q&a/ask_the_parenting_expert/1394.html

I hope these help!

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My other son is the one I think may have bipolar. I have two sons. My 9 year old has ADHD, Asperger's, ODD, Depession and my 8 year old has ADHD but I think my 8 year old also has Bipolar or Tourettes because he has really bad facial and vocal tics. My 8 year old has an appointment with a child psychologist on Aug 6 so maybe we can get some more answers for him. My 9 year old, bless his heart is having a hard time because his dad decided to cease all contact because of his lying and it is really hard on my son. I just want to help him with his lying.

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I feel for your son and you, its certainly putting him back with the unconditional love his father has shown him. I think your son needs so much to be herd. Just to have his point of view acknowlaged can be huge. he might even not know why he does it. Its good that he's seeing a proffesional, do they have a background in specializing with children with adhd? Does your son like them? Have you read any books on "love and logic" they had some extreamly helpful parenting tools for my blended family. Just don't give up on him & hang in there!

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I know his dad is such a jerk. He is going to counseling and the counselor is really good. My son and I both like him. He is straight forward to which I like.

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Things have been a little better with my son and his lying. I just ask him or give him "the" look when I think he is lying and then he tells me the truth.

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Well as you probably know my son's father decided to cease all contact with my son. If you don't know, In January my son said that his step brothers held a knife to his throat and threatened to kill him. I had him at the ER 3 times in January and on the last time he told the doctors and nursed about it and they got social services involved. His dad didn't believe him. Social services interviewed him, then a few weeks later they interviewed him again with a dectective present because one of the boys was 14. They also went and interviewed my X and his step sons and wife. After that the case closed the case because they said there was not enough proof and the stories from both sides were different. Of course the step sons would deny it. They have done stuff to my son in the past like hitting him over the head with a plastic sword and he had to have staples, writing obscene things on his back, and he says his step mom is mean and stuffs socks down his throat and won't feed him when his dad isn't there. These are some of the reasons why I believe him about the knives.

So yesterday the 6th of July was my son's 10th birthday and his dad didn't even call him. He is such a jerk. I am remarried and I have been with my husband for 6 years. He loves my kids and does anything for them. My kids love him too. My son has a close relationship with my husband(his step-dad) but he is still having a really hard time about his dad.

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Well my son's dad called yesterday to talk to him. He is such a jerk. I tried to listen to as much of the conversation as possible. His dad asked him how counseling was and what he is getting help with and my son said he is getting help with lying (My son told dr's and social workers in Jan that his step brothers held a knife to his throat and threatned to kill my son and his dad doesn't believe him but I do. My son does have a tendency to lie but he doesn't lie about everything.) So his dad said he was glad to hear that because my son really hurt his Step moms feelings, his dad should have said I am proud of you for working on your issues. I wanted my son to say his feelings were hurt to but I couldn't tell him what to say. I have talked to my son about sticking up for himself with his father. I want to write a letter to his dad because I am so angry.

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My son started taking Vyvanse instead of Concerta on 7/17/08. At first he complained of chest pain. He isn't complaining of chest pain anymore thank goodness. I think it may be a little anxiety starting a new medication. I do notice him eating more on the Vyvanse then he did with the Concerta. He also went to the Zoo for a couple hours yesterday with his stupid dad. I am afraid of my son getting his hopes up to high though. His dad still won't let him come to his house because of his wife and step kids. He is also taking Prozac 10 mg for his depression because of his dad.

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I am so frustrated. My son was admittd to the hospital on 7/26/08 for vomiting blood. They did a scope on the 28th and said he had a tear in his esophagus and gastritis. He got discharged on 7/29/08. My son finally got to school this week 8/4/08. He missed all last week. I emailed his new teacher on the 7/28/08 and told her he would not be there because he was in the hospital. She emailed me back and said needs to be there and went on to say responsibility is a big part of 5th grade and part of responsibility is attendance. He was in the hospital, he couldn't just leave. So that upset me already. Then I emailed her on the 29th and said he was still in the hospital and asked if she could send all of his homework or missed work home with his brother. I didn't hear from her so I emailed and called her again. She called me back and in a very condescending way she said"I got all your 9 emails", I sent like 4. Then she said she sent his work home and told me what there was, two math assignments, reading 30 min a day, and a book report due on the 15th. I said thats it and she said yes but that they had done pretesting for math and spelling and learned some social studies stuff but she would probably not have time to do that with my son when he gets back because is so busy. She went on to say she is so busy she doesn't even get a lunch break because that is the only time the 5th grade teachers can have their meeting. I went to the principal with this and now she is upset with me. She keeps sticking up for her teacher. I told her I need a teacher that cares about my sons education and is willing to help him. The principal said I have some preconceived notion about his teacher and that I am completely wrong with what happened. It is so frustrating. Sorry to vent.

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The meeting was a joke really. They called it a Pre 504 meeting but they had other motives. We first went over my 8 yr olds stuff and talked to his teacher about things for her to watch for. He doesn't need to many accomadations though, at least not yet I don't think. He does very well in school with his daily work and homework. He needs some social skills and behavior skills training and needs to sit in the friend by kids who aren't trouble makers, and I asked her to watch for any ADHD or Tics stuff if they get more often or worse so we can look at adjusting his meds again. My 8 year old loves his teacher which is good so hopefully we will have a good school year. Then we went over information with my 10 year old and his dx's. I mentioned I was concerned about some things we dealt with last year like him saying he already did his work when he didn't, he left it at school, the teacher doesnt like him and she is making him do it again, spending hours trying to get him to do his homework, if he doesn't understand instructions for an assignment he will just sit there until he gets individual help from the teacher, he doesnt ususally make eye contact, he gets bored quick, he focus on one specific thing, etc. I explained that last year he started out well but didn't stay that way long. I also suggested I wanted him in social and behavior skills training. His teacher for this year went on to contradict everything I was saying. She said he is doing really well in class, however he has only been in class for 4 days. My husband went on to say that with all the emails we sent we were just trying to make sure my son didn't get behind like he did last school year. The principal said she is glad things went well or she was going to switch the kids tracks (they go to year round school) and change teachers if we didn't get along. The principal and teacher are so fake. So what came out of the meeting is the teachers are going to observe the kids, we are supposed to have a really 504 meeting on Sept 24th to see if the boys need accomadations and if so which ones.

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